


Witches Get Stiches

by mielipieli



Series: The Titans never really stopped being teens within [6]
Category: Titans (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Witches, can't anything ever go right, someone gets drugged
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 19:48:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13724745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mielipieli/pseuds/mielipieli
Summary: Dick knows that Garth doesn't want anything to do with magic. But he really needs help on this case. He'd even let Garth punch him.





	Witches Get Stiches

**Author's Note:**

> Corrected a few mistakes and some expressions I didn't like.

“What do you want, Richard?”, Garth asked as Dick let himself fall onto the couch next to him.

Dick had just gotten to the tower from Blüdhaven after a long patrol. They had a meeting the next morning and Dick had needed to talk to Garth anyway, so he’d decided to drive to New York in the evening, not just the morning.

“You know it seriously weirds me out every time you call me that?”

“Why?”

“I don’t really know. It’s usually what the press, creepy or angry people call me. I don’t really see you fitting in there”, Dick shrugged. 

Garth looked up from his book for the first time: “Doesn’t Damian call you Richard sometimes?”

“He does. But he pretty much always fits into the category of angry people”, Dick said. “Dammit, I’m beginning to sound like Jason and Tim.” He looked seriously pissed at himself.

Garth let out a laugh: “Seriously, why are you here already? You usually don’t get here until one minute before a meeting.”

“Do you promise not to kill me until you’ve at least heard all of it?”, Dick asked staring at the wall. 

Garth shot him a frown and gave him a sign to go on. 

“You can absolutely say no. But… I kind of need help with something magic related. There’s this coven that supposedly has a few powerful magical artefacts. I just want someone there who can tell me what I shouldn’t touch.”

Garth’s entire body had gone rigid. His teeth were clenched and he looked about ready to punch Dick. 

“I’m pretty sure they have something planned very soon. They seem powerful and I shouldn’t try this on my own”, Dick added. Bruce would kill him if he even considered doing a raid like this alone.

Garth sighed: “Fine.”

Dick’s eyes widened in surprise: “Wait… seriously? I kind of… expected you to say no.”

“You owe me. Something big. But… if I can put my knowledge to use without actually having to use any magic, that’s fine.”

“You haven’t punched me either”, Dick said.

“I reserve the right to punch you afterwards and then have a sparring session during which I get you to regret all of your life choices”, Garth said with a laugh at Dick’s complete and utter surprise. 

“That sounds fair.”

\--------------

The two of them headed to Blüdhaven the next afternoon. They had decided to do their raid of the compound that night, hoping that the witches might not be starting their ritual so soon. This way Dick had time to brief Garth on everything he knew. Which wasn’t much. It was hard to get information on a secretive coven. 

“So you only know that they’ve been shopping online?”, Garth asked as he looked at the document in his hand. It was an amazon bill. 

Dick sighed and rubbed his face: “I asked Constantine and Zatanna about the list but all they could tell me was that ‘sounds like some kind of satanic ritual’. Apparently none of the items are very specific.”

“No kidding. Rosemary and lavender? Glass marbles? Are they trying to summon a child that just smells insanely good?”

Dick laughed: “I wouldn’t mind that. I feel like we’re not going to be that lucky.”

“We can still hope.”

\---------------

The raid didn’t go very well. The moment Dick stepped through the door he was down. Something was cramping in his abdomen. The pain was blinding. He tried to roll onto his knees and elbows but something pressed him down. A foot? Dick stopped moving and the pain got better. Like something was releasing its grip on all of the organs in his abdomen.

Dick could see Garth across the room. He seemed to be struggling to breathe. Shit. They needed help. Dick pressed the Titans emergency beacon in his glove and heard the short beeping sound in the comm that told him contact had been made. 

“How lovely of you to join us, sweeties. We were just waiting for you.”

The voice came from behind Dick. He tried to lift his head and turn to see the woman but the foot pressed down again and the pain in his abdomen got worse. He closed his eyes for a moment to control his responses to the pain. No point trying to suppress the pain itself. Magic was annoying that way. Not that it usually worked with anything else.

“We expected you to come on your own, Nightwing. But no worries. We’re well prepared.” A shoe was at the edge of his field of vision. And another. Someone, probably the woman speaking, was walking toward Garth. “We have a spell to deal with Atlanteans. Pulls the water right out of them leaving just enough for them not to die. It makes them feel like they can’t breathe. Quite similar to the effects of waterboarding on a regular human, I expect.”

The woman bent down and patted Garth’s head. Dick felt anger flame up inside him right where the pain was. It was the same kind of anger he felt when someone was hurting his siblings: Cold, harsh fury that could drive him to do nearly anything. 

“Despite this unforeseen event, we will continue with the ceremony as planned. Now that we have you, we can actually start.”

‘Great’, Dick thought, ‘they’re those kinds of witches.’ Then his mind went completely blank as he was pulled to his feet and his stomach felt like it was bursting into flame. 

It must have been only a few seconds later when Dick was being tied to a hook in the ceiling, his hands somewhere above his head. He was hanging on the rope. His legs were refusing to support him. Goddamn it. This was not the plan. This wasn’t supposed to be a serious cult. It was supposed to be a coven doing something stupid, not murderous human-sacrificing witches. 

Garth seemed to be trying to push himself up but a witch next to him kicked him in the side so he fell back down. Dick would like to be standing himself. Instead there was suddenly a glass at his mouth. His mouth that was being forced open only to then be held shut like his nose. The world grew fuzzy around the edges. Was the world supposed to be fuzzy? Dick didn’t think so. That was reserved exclusively for stuffed animals and comfy chairs. 

There was chanting around Dick. It got louder and louder. Oppressive. Too loud. Dick didn’t feel good. Was the chanting pulling at Dick? No. No. Not good. Dick wanted to vomit. He was shaking. He felt like his brain was shaking. That wasn’t good, right?

The chanting stopped. Screams all around him. Still too loud. Then the room seemed to quiet down and there were hands helping Dick’s legs get back underneath him. What were his legs doing not being under him? His arms fell and Dick collapsed to his knees. Oh, god. He was going to vomit.

A hand rubbed Dick’s back when he was done - it might have started while he was still vomiting but he hadn’t noticed it - and a voice was talking to him very gently.

“You’re okay, Dick. Everything’s okay. We’ve got you. We’ll take you back to the tower.”

\----------------

It took them five minutes from the moment they got the distress call to the moment they stormed the coven’s ritual. Garth didn’t look good. Dick didn’t look good either, for that matter. 

“Wally, get Garth to the sea”, Donna said quickly.

Wally nodded and they were both gone after mere seconds. Then Donna turned to Lilith and Roy. 

“Steady Dick. I’ll free his hands.”

Dick collapsed as soon as his hands were free. Lilith jumped back surprised at the sudden change but Roy gently guided him down to the floor. Then Dick was vomiting. Drug or spell? Donna looked around the room and spotted an empty glass. The transparent liquid inside smelled thickly sweet. Could be a drug. Donna decided they should get a sample.

“Roy, can you give me something to take a sample of this liquid?”

Dick was lying on his side now his head resting in Roy’s lap. He was shaking and looked absolutely spent. Roy just nodded and threw her a thin tube. 

\-----------------

Dick woke up in the medbay. That must have been one strong drug to keep him unconscious or at least unaware long enough to get to the tower. 

“Hey, Dick. How are you feeling?”, Donna’s voice said softly from his right. 

Dick opened his eyes, ignored the discomfort in his head and smiled at her: “I’m okay.”

His head hurt, his throat felt raw and the taste in his mouth was disgusting. His arms and legs were heavy and there was a slight nausea. 

“Yeah, not very convincing”, Wally said. “You’re pretty pale. But we actually know you’re alright. So…”

“What Wally means to say is that Raven checked you over. She was here ten minutes ago.”

Dick felt a pang of sadness that he’d missed her. He never really saw her anymore. Kory and Gar, too. Maybe he should start dropping by the Teen Titans. It would definitely annoy Damian, so that was a plus. 

“How’s Garth?”, Dick asked because his head was kind of refusing to be lifted to look around.

Garth’s face appeared at the foot of his bed: “Better than you.”

“So… How angry are you at me?”

“Not a lot, actually. You look absolutely miserable. I’m still looking forward to that sparring session, though.”


End file.
